KIPP released an announcement that co-founder Mike Feinberg has been terminated after an independent investigation of allegations of inappropriate conduct.

Feinberg denies the allegations.

Categories KIPP Charter Schools

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Jack says:

February 22, 2018 at 7:53 pm

Holy Be-Jesus!

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- Jack says:
  
  February 22, 2018 at 8:10 pm
  
  Where’s KIPP-lover Campbell Brown on this? What’s she got to say?
  
  Just reading this, it looks like KIPP Co-founder Mike Feinberg was accused of sexually molesting a teenage KIPP student back “in the late 1990’s.”
  
  http://blog.kipp.org/updates/letter-to-kipp-team-and-family/
  x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
  KIPP letter to parents from CEO Richard Barth:
  
  “The investigation was triggered last spring by an allegation of sexual abuse of a student by Mr. Feinberg in the late 1990s. The alleged conduct had not previously been reported to KIPP or the authorities.
  
  “Following the protocols we have established, KIPP immediately contacted Texas Child Protective Services.”
  x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
  
  Secondarily, Feinberg stands accused of sexually harassing two (presumably adult-aged) females who were both former KIPP students as well as — at the time of the alleged abuse — KIPP employees. In one of those instances, the alleged victim either sued or threatened to sue, and either Feinberg and/or KIPP paid the alleged victim an out-of-court settlement. Since this was not an accusation of child abuse, KIPP leaders were not required to inform the authorities.
  
  x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
  KIPP letter to parents from CEO Richard Barth:
  
  “In the course of its work, WilmerHale (the law firm hired by KIPP leaders to investigate all of this) presented evidence of sexual harassment by Mr. Feinberg involving an adult KIPP alumna who was employed by KIPP Houston in 2004, which led to a financial settlement at the time. A second credible harassment claim against Mr. Feinberg, involving another adult alumna employed by KIPP Houston from the same time period, could not be corroborated.”
  x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
  
  However, adult victim or not, had this occurred in a public school, Feinberg would not have been allowed to remain after such a settlement. Indeed, he would have been banned from working in education for life.
  
  Apparently, KIPP has a miserable standard for treating sex harassment in such a situation. The other KIPP honchos — including Feinberg’s long-time friend, partner, and co-founder Dave Levin — knew the accusations were credible enough that they and/or Feinberg had to pay the alleged victim hush money, but Feinberg was still allowed by the KIPP Board of Directos to remain as Co-CEO of KIPP???!!!
  
  Wow, this looks bad.
  
  Reply
  - Stevie says:
    
    February 22, 2018 at 11:49 pm
    
    Absolutely terrible. But “banned from education for life” isn’t how it works, at least here in CA. The LA district paid out a pretty hefty settlement of sexual harassment allegations against Ray Cortines, and they still brought him back to run the district a second time. https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Former-LAUSD-Superintendent-Ramon-Cortines-Subject-Sexual-Harassment-Claims-153286125.html
- Jack says:
  
  February 22, 2018 at 8:44 pm
  
  Feinberg’s KIPP Co-Founder and close friend Dave Levin for almost 30 years seems flummoxed by this dramatic turn of events, unable to reconcile his own personal experience with Feinberg with the evidence presented, which includes credible testimony from both the victim and the victim’s mother:
  
  x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
  N.Y. TIMES:
  
  “Mr. Levin said he had spoken to Mr. Feinberg about the matter, but he would not describe the conversation.
  
  “It is very hard to reconcile — I’ve known Mike for almost 30 years,” Mr. Levin said, ‘To reconcile what we’ve learned as a result of this investigation and the evidence that’s been presented to us with the work I’ve known him to do is very hard.’ ”
  
  …
  
  “The co-founder, Michael Feinberg, was accused last spring of sexually abusing a minor female student in Houston in the late 1990s, according to someone with close knowledge of the case, who was not authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified. An outside investigation found her claim credible after interviewing the student and her mother who both gave the same sequence of events.”
  x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
  
  Reply
Ken Watanabe says:

February 22, 2018 at 7:57 pm

I saw this man at Education Forum on Texas A&M campus 6 years ago. I remember I asked him a couple of questions. His answers: “We are advocating for healthy competition. We can’t take too many children away from local school district.” Classic BS line. Begone.

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InService says:

February 22, 2018 at 8:08 pm

Privatization karma.

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Jack says:

February 22, 2018 at 9:13 pm

Money-wise, Feinberg was making out like a bandit:

x x x x x x x x x x x x
N.Y. TIMES:

“In the year ended June 2016 — the latest period for which the organization’s tax filings were available — Mr. Feinberg received $231,885 in compensation and benefits while working for KIPP’s Houston schools, and $220,241 for work at the parent foundation in San Francisco, the filings show.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x

That’s an annual salary (combined) of $451,126 !!!

He’s going to have a tough time finding a job that pays this much … especially as a disgraced sexual predator teacher (alleged, that is.) thrown out of the organization that he co-founded.

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stevenelson0248 says:

February 22, 2018 at 9:30 pm

Couldn’t happen to a nicer organization. KIPP is abusing enough children even without sexual assault or harassment. One would only hope the whole dishonest enterprise would unravel.

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Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

February 22, 2018 at 9:48 pm

Yay!

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Jack says:

February 22, 2018 at 10:22 pm

This guy’s a Grade A Douche.

I just unearthed this specious double-talk-filled op-ed which Feinberg recently wrote.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/Charter-school-Wrong-question-We-need-to-ask-11098101.php?t=cbb56aac93438d9cbb&cmpid=twitter-premium

First some background:

Under the leadership of Co-Founders Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, and CEO Richard Barth (Wendy Kopp’s hubby),\ KIPP Charter Schools, Inc. has constantly bashed and trashed public schools whenever and wherever possible. KIPP leaders and teachers were the shock troops — the main ones— in the privatization of the entirety of New Orleans’ schools, aiding and abetting the firing of over 7,000 veteran teachers, sd these overwhelmingly black, middle class New Orlean-ians were then cast out of the teaching profession, and out of the newly white and ethnically cleansed city of N’awlins.

Feinberg and his fellow KIPP leaders have also been key players in the privatization and elimination of public schools in huge chunks of other cities, including Newark, Denver, and KIPP’s city of origin, Houston.

They’ve also engaged in some of the most vicious union-busting at their schools — GOOGLE …

KIPP-AMP New York teachers union

… for one particularly ugly story in that regard.

For that matter, check out KIPP CEO Richard Barth’s public-school-bashing tweets during the Question 2 campaign during FALL 2016 in Massachusetts

Now, however, taking a page from Eli Broad and Broad’s phony “I-like-public-schools, too” pose, KIPP Co-Founder Mike Feinberg says that he *”may sound naive”, but he he now claims educators and other education activists of all stripes need to simply “stop debating” and have educators, parents and people from both sectors—charter and public–just “start working together … pivot from arguing with each other and begin the important work of starting more great schools.”

(Note that I emphasize the word “starting” — as in not improving the schools currently in need of funding and support — as his use of that particular verb is a giveaway.)

KIPP Founder Mike Feinberg (from the Houston Chronicle op-ed):

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
*”Educators and policymakers need to stop debating and start working together. Everyone involved in education in Houston, including district leaders, charter leaders (including me, too), elected officials, private school advocates and education philanthropists must pivot from arguing with each other and begin the important work of starting more great schools.”

” … ”

“Rather than polarizing choices between privatizing the system or fixing school districts by focusing solely on public charters, we could commit to increasing the availability of great schools in all neighborhoods to meet the demands of parents and employers.

“This might sound naïve, but there is one thing I’ve learned in more than 25 years of working to improve school outcomes in Houston: No one solution or program will fix everything.

“Great schools are the unit of change, and we’ve got to have more of them, of all types, especially in our underserved neighborhoods where parents by the tens of thousands are on district magnet and public charter wait lists.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Sounds great. Right? However, at the end of the article, Feinberg reverts to form and says that the actual “let’s-end-the-debate-and-work-together” solution is to … WAIT FOR IT …

… “grow” more charter schools “in response to parent demand and results.” … NOT A G–D— WORD ABOUT FULLY FUNDING AND SUPPORTING TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

… while neglecting to mention that those future charters schools, like the current charters, will poach students away from the existing public schools, with the end-game for all traditional public schools to disappear entirely in favor of a total replacement by privately managed charter schools

Once hired, part of a teacher’s job at some (but not all) KIPP schools is to go cold-call door knocking at the homes of parents currently attending traditional public schools, proselytize them with public-school-bashing scripts, to get those parents to come on over to KIPP. It’s like you’ve joined “The Moonies.” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Feinberg tries to square this circle by saying this will happen “in partnership with with local school districts.” You see, Mike wants the Public School Districts to “partner” themselves out of existence.

Whatever you say, Mike.

KIPP Founder Mike Feinberg (yesterday’s Houston
Chronicle op-ed):

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
“We should find ways for public charter schools to grow in partnership with local school districts. There are currently ISD schools and public charter schools in Houston – including KIPP, YES College Prep, and others – that are outperforming state averages with underserved populations.

“It makes sense for these networks to grow in response to parent demand and results.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Vomiting up tripe like this was a big part of Mike earning his $450,000 / year combined annual salary.

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Jack says:

February 22, 2018 at 10:30 pm

Another thing about Mike Feinberg.

A couple years ago, on its website, KIPP inadvertently posted a video of Feinberg answering a question at KIPP’s annual convention about whether or not his own children, Gus and Abadit, will be attending a KIPP school when they get older.

KIPP critic Jim Horn commented on Feinberg’s tortured reply to this question shortly before the video itself was deleted by KIPP leaders.

First, Horn provided a transcript:

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
MIKE FEINBERG: “Gus and Abadit [Feinberg’s two children] are not going to go to a KIPP school…

[begins rubbing his face],

“… and that’s actually for–there are several reasons for that. I mean, you get into, for, you know, with a 10-thousand-kid waiting list, um, my kids have options, I don’t want to take away a seat from another …

[more beard rubbing]

” … family that doesn’t have options, that’s, um, part of it, but at, with my parent hat on, I want the most for Gus and Abadit. I would put them in a bunch of our primary schools in a heartbeat, knowing what a great education they would get, how well they would get taken care of …

[makes a strangling motion with his hands].

“… It would be unfair, I think, to Gus and Abadit, cuz’ in a KIPP school, they wouldn’t be Gus and Abadit, they would be Feinberg’s kids, and I don’t want them–I want them to grow up, and being in a school, being Gus and Abadit, and not be a fishbowl parent.

“And I’ve seen this happen with other leaders’ kids, where, um, ah, within five minutes of being put in timeout, the school is talking about the kid being in timeout. I just want them to have a chance to be Gus and Abadit and, uh, as I said, Gus, you know, he wants to be …

[begins scratching his face],

“… or wear a KIPP shirt, with, with pride, and he wants to be a KIPPster…”*

[starts rubbing his hands together]

“… he wants to come and tutor, and things like that, to find other ways to get him plugged in to the Team and Family… ”

[looks over to Levin as to say, please, god, get me out of here!]

END OF SEGMENT
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Over at SCHOOLS MATTER, Jim Horn did an analysis of this awkward moment of Feinberg trying to rationalize or explain away exactly why he’s going to keep his own kids as far away from KIPP as possible:

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2014/08/why-feinbergs-kids-will-never-go-to-kipp.html

JIM HORN: “Corporate cult leaders, Mike Feinberg and David Levin, are their own biggest fans, and to prove it, they gave themselves 80 minutes onstage at the recent million dollar summit in Houston to answer some puffball questions for the KIPPnotized KIPPsters in the auditorium.

“Oops, someone got this embarrassing question through…

” … ”

“Fortunately for Feinberg, no one at the million dollar summit asked to see that mythical waiting list with 10,000 kids on it. If that were anywhere near the truth, we may wonder why KIPP schools such as the one in Memphis are having to pay back money for enrollment overestimates based on projections that never matched reality? Surely Feinberg could find one of those many under-enrolled KIPP schools where teachers are sent out regularly with their clipboards to beat the bushes like missionaries to find warm bodies to put in desks (or on the floor).

“Notice, too, how Feinberg wants to protect the privacy of his children when they mess up at school, even if he is the co-designer of a system of KIPP paychecks that guarantee that every teacher of any KIPP child knows when he has been good or bad by checking the paycheck each KIPPster carries with him from class to class.

“Remember, too, that public humiliation is standard operating procedure at KIPP, but protection from that is only important for Feinberg’s children and the children of the corporate whales the fund KIPP. I understand your quandary, Mikey.

“Feinberg’s fumbling rhetoric and transparent body language cannot conceal the condescending corporate paternalism that is a defining characteristic of KIPP’s abusive corporate reform school testing camps. Despite the lame effort, how that paternalism shows through: Feinberg has choices for his kids, but he wants to make sure that the children of the poor have a single option once the testing machine has closed most of the urban public schools. Poor children need KIPP, rich kids don’t.

“What happened to the advertised concept of choice for the poor?? Pure malarkey. The new paternalism demands that elites like Feinberg and Levin should decide what the poor must learn, and how they should learn it, and how they should prove that they do learn it.

“In the end, passing tests is less important for that distant abstraction called college than it is for the Feinbergs and Levins of the world to know that these kids and their parents are towing the line that has been drawn for them by the Fisher family and the other corporate overseers who pump hundreds of millions into these chain gangs for the poor.

“Feinberg’s child, Gus, will have to find another way to become part of ‘Team and Family.’ He can wear his KIPP shirt (while inside the auditorium, for god’s sake), and he can maybe come tutor the poor kids and perhaps tell them some of the neat things he is learning out there in the world where children have choices.

“Nah, forget that last part–the KIPPsters can’t afford to have any distractions–they have to prove their sponsors’ and handlers’ intentions are noble ones.”

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Michael Fiorillo says:

February 23, 2018 at 10:55 am

Now it’s time to investigate the daily abuse that all KIPP students (and teachers) endure at this combination sweatshop/Skinner Box.

Despite the terrible times we’re living through, there are some pleasures to be had, such as watching these pious edu-fraudsters go down in flames…

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